Australian amateur Jasper Stubbs is clinging to the hope of making the halfway cut after enduring a rough Masters debut at Augusta National.
Stubbs’ dream debut turned to a nightmare late on as the 22-year-old leaked six shots in his last four holes in a horror first-round eight-over-par 80.
He was sitting dead last in the 89-man field.
Stubbs had been holding his own in blustery conditions, only two-over through 14 holes with Amen Corner behind him.
“I was pretty nervous walking on to the tee of No.1, but it wasn’t as bad as I was kind of expecting (it),” Stubbs said.
“I felt pretty ready to play a good round of golf. I got off to a pretty decent start after that.”
Alas, Stubbs found the water on consecutive holes to post back-to-back double-bogeys on 15 and 16, before closing with successive bogeys.
“The wind made it really tricky,” he said.
“It meant that you were just in between a lot of clubs. Obviously distance control into these greens is pretty paramount around here and it just made it a little bit trickier, and I think I struggled a little bit with that towards the end.
“Every day we’ve had a different wind slightly and different conditions, so it’s something you’ve got to adjust to on the day as best you can.”
The rookie, who gained entry with victory at last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne, had dreamt of a top-12 finish to earn a return in 2025.
But he’s had to quickly downgrade his expectations.
“Learn something from today and try and come out tomorrow and I’ll do my best to still make the cut,” Stubbs said.
“But yeah, we’ll just try and have as low a round as we can tomorrow.”